Traditional Health Assessment

12 February 2017

Herbalists and Naturopaths use Traditional Health Assessment methods of assessing health that usually do not involve diagnosing diseases . Traditional Methods of assessment may include pulse and tongue diagnosis and Iridology . These methods are a more effective way of assessing various aspects of a person’s health as they assess things like – constitution , root cause of illness , strengths and weaknesses in organ systems and lifestyle factors that impact on health . A wholistic health assessment is not so much focused on the disease process but looks at the Terrain ( environment and constitution ) or what is happening within the persons body that could have lead to this disease.

Western medical diagnosis involving lab or blood tests are good for diagnosis of disease and treatment of that disease using Western Medical treatments e.g. drugs . Traditional methods of health assessment are designed to go hand in hand with the use of diet and natural therapies and Natural supplements .

One such method of assessing health wise from a traditional view is- pulse diagnosis . Pulse diagnosis has been used for thousands of years in various cultures to assess where there are health imbalances in the human body . The pulse is usually felt at the wrists and can give forth information that is vital for determining what is happening in the body at that time and guides the the use of specific herbal formulas or supplements that will assist in correcting that imbalance in the body .

The body is seen as corrective balancing organism that is programmed for health providing all factors leading to health are in balance .

An common example that is found with women is blood deficiency due to monthly menstrual period . Blood nutrient must be replenished all the time and distributed to body tissues .

Blood deficiency body signs are associated with pale nails, pale tongue or a thready pulse. Other associated effects from Blood Deficiency are , light sleep , fatigue , feeling faint or dizzy , low blood pressure , Dry skin , thinning hair . Blood deficiency may include anemia but it’s broader interpretation may be related a a lack of nutrients in the blood . Biomedically lack of iron , enzymes , proteins etc that comprise blood quality . If blood is not delivering nutrient to tissues then they will look pale . Hence blood building foods are suggested for building blood such as organ meats or molasses or green vegetables or pigmented foods like blueberries and cherries.

Quite often medical blood tests show iron or Haemoglobin levels at an acceptable level but the person still may suffer symptoms . Traditional Health Assessments like pulse or tongue diagnosis can determine what needs to be done to bring the body back into balance .